Whatever your previous experience of composing, or none, this book will guide you through the process of creating musical ideas and developing them into a complete composition suitable for submission as part of your GCSE Music course.

The first section introduces you to the ingredients of composing - techniques that you can apply to any style of music - including rhythm, word setting, pitch, melody, phrase structure, harmony, texture and instrumentation.

The second section offers eight composing projects based on music of different styles and forms, including verse-chorus song, theme and variations, minimalism, musique concrete and film music. Each of these will guide you through the process of writing a piece of music from beginning to end.